''The Chopping Block'' is an American reality television series, based on the Australian

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early ...

series of the same name. The series aired on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

network and followed participants in an attempt to open a restaurant. It is hosted by

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

celebrity chef

Marco Pierre White Marco Pierre White (born 11 December 1961) is a British chef, restaurateur, and television personality. He has been dubbed "the first celebrity chef" and the ''enfant terrible'' of the UK restaurant scene. In January 1995, aged 33, White became ...

. The first episode premiered on March 11, 2009 to low ratings. Two more episodes aired, each with worse ratings than the last. On March 26, 2009, NBC canceled the series, choosing to run repeats of ''

Law & Order: Criminal Intent ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' is an American police procedural Drama (film and television), drama television series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and Executive producer#Motion pictures and television, p ...

'' in the timeslot. The series completed "airing" on NBC.com and Hulu, releasing one a week. On April 24, 2009, NBC announced the series would return to television in Friday, June 19, despite airing on the internet already. After the fourth episode aired on the 19th, it was pre-empted on June 26 by television coverage surrounding the deaths of Farrah Fawcett and

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

the day before. The show returned Friday, July 3. It then proceeded to air until Friday, July 24, the day the final episode aired on

. On April 27, 2009, British TV began showing the series on ITV2, immediately following the finale of ''

Hell's Kitchen Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the ea ...

'', also hosted by Marco Pierre White, on ITV1 of which 6 of the episodes being aired, although episode 7 was not shown on Monday at 8 o clock as would be expected, and there has been no explanation as to what has happened to the series in the UK or why the episode was not shown.

Format

Eight contestant pairs, each consisting of a chef and a front-of-house member with an existing relationship, are divided into two teams of four pairs each. The teams are each assigned an empty restaurant space, across the street from each other in downtown

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. Each week, the teams are given a task, and open their restaurants for a service. The team judged to have lost that service has its weakest pair eliminated from the show by chef White. Each week, the teams also have a challenge to compete in (sometimes relating to the kitchen, and sometimes relating to front-of-house), the winner of which gains an advantage during the subsequent service. The format of the American version differs markedly to that of the original Australian version.

Contestants

The first season consisted of 8 teams of 2 participants each: * Angela Brown-Johnson &

Samantha Johnson Samantha Martel Johnson (born June 10, 1991) is an American soccer defender. She has previously played for National Women's Soccer League clubs Chicago Red Stars and Utah Royals FC and for Australian W-League clubs Melbourne Victory, Sydney FC ...

from

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

* Alex (Zan) McCoy & Nate (Than) McCoy from

Cabin John, Maryland Cabin John is a census-designated place and an unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. Its original southern boundary encompassed a section of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (C&O) including locks 8–12, and the northern ...

* Panya Rice & Michael Holmes from

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

* Mikey Torres & Chad Phillips from

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

* Lisa Stalvey & Michael Anapol from

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

* Denise Nguyen & Khoa Nguyen from

* Kelsey Henderson & Vanessa Henderson from

* Dean Della Ventura & Shari Della Ventura from

Millbury, Massachusetts Millbury, officially the Town of Millbury, is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts. Located within Blackstone Valley, the population in Millbury was 13,831 at the 2020 United States Census. History Millbury was first settled by Europea ...

Episode results

: The show was cancelled after three episodes.
: The remaining shows are broadcast each Wednesday night on NBC.com. These episodes then air on NBC with Episode 4 having started off the airing of the episodes on June 19, and a break on June 26 because of the Farrah documentary. : This episode had no elimination. : Hotpink background and WINNER means that team was the winner of the competition : Cornflowerblue background and RUNNER-UP means that team was the runner-up of the competition : Green background and WIN means that the team was crowned winner for that week : Blue background and LOW means that the team was up for elimination : Orange background and OUT means that the team bowed out : Brown background and OUT means that the team was told to take off their aprons and was eliminated : Violet background and WIN means that the team was a finalist and won the challenge, but there was no elimination in that episode : Black background means that the team is a member of the black team : Red background means that the team is a member of the red team : Lightgrey background means that the couple(s) were the final two

US Nielsen ratings

U.S. Ratings

References

External links

Official Website (via Internet Archive)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chopping Block, The 2000s American cooking television series 2000s American reality television series 2009 American television series debuts 2009 American television series endings Food reality television series American television series based on Australian television series NBC original programming Television series by ITV Studios Cooking competitions in the United States